Today, at age 24, when my peers are dating, marrying and having children of their own, my cancer treatments are causing internal and external changes in my body that leave me feeling confused, vulnerable, frustrated - and verifiably unsexy. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
With a Catholic mother and a Muslim father, I've always had a great interest in religion, but I've never practiced one myself. After I… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
It felt like 10 years, but I was actually in treatment for three-and-a-half years. I finally finished in April. Two years ago, I had… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
There are days when I even long for the paralegal job that once upon a time made me so miserable. It wasn't the perfect… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
When I finally returned home after my five-week hospitalization, I could feel the stares of strangers on my bald head and thinning eyebrows. Everywhere… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
The bone marrow transplant procedure itself can be dangerous, but it is swift, which makes it feel strangely anti-climactic. — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Even amid the shock of my diagnosis, I held onto the hope that I'd be able to make the most of my down time… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I'll never go so far to call cancer a gift. It's a really terrible disease. It's taken the lives of so many of my… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I think often when we talk about things like cancer, the kind of final act at the end of the story comes with a… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Before my diagnosis with leukemia, two years ago at the age of 22, I'd always excelled at making resolutions. But I was never as… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Like a lot of other young people, I never thought about health insurance until I got sick. I was 22, and my adult life… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
And there came a point in my treatment where I couldn't see that end in sight. And that was the most challenging, I think,… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
But no conversation between doctor and patient can magically turn an uninsured patient into an insured one. Doctors are just as helpless as patients… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
Cancer magnifies the in-betweenness of young adulthood: You're not a child anymore, yet you're not fully ready to live in the adult world, either.… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
I get along well with my medical team and I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. But the idea of discussing my… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
For the better half of my early 20s, I was Bubble Girl. When I found out I had leukemia at 22 my world suddenly… — Suleika Jaouad Copy Share Image
